


Falling all in (you)

by faewrites



Category: Disney - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Love, OC, gypsies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 04:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faewrites/pseuds/faewrites
Summary: At the Festival of Fools, Esmeralda wasn't the only gypsy to be outraged by how our hunchback was treated, there, lurking in the shadows a young girl who'd come to see her older sister perform at the Festival of Fools. Ethelinda couldn't stop thinking about that poor beautiful man, who'd been tied to a wheel and then a few days later, had helped her sister escape, or so Esmeralda had told everyone. She wanted to meet him, desperately wanted to meet him.





	Falling all in (you)

**Author's Note:**

> Ethelinda means 'noble maiden' and I thought it'd fit. I'm usually really against original characters (I really don't know why, but the adventures they have with the main characters always seem so far fetched) but after reading some OC fanfiction, it's time for me to bury my irrational hatchet and admit that oc/main fanfiction is wonderful. I got this idea when I was watching the Hunchback of the Notre Dame just yet, so bear with me if this is far from perfect, please.
> 
> Also I know it has been ages since I updated this but I have been immensely busy with uni and have finally found a moment of peace to gather my thoughts and convey them onto a page and share with the world. Also, for now this fic is based on Disney's adaptation of Victor Hugo's 'Hunchback of the Notre Dame', but as soon as I have read the original work by Victor Hugo, I will address 'Quasimodo's personality slightly to honour his work. 
> 
> In case of any errors, spelling wise or grammatical, my one and only explanation for that is that I am not a native speaker and will make mistakes due to unfamiliarity with the language.

The festival around her was slowly coming to life. She had come here to see her older sister perform. It had been quite an honor among the gypsies, they'd eventually all decided on Esmeralda since she was undeniably the most beautiful and talented out of all of them. The rest of them stood no chance. Ethelinda gazed out over the crowd from the rooftop she was sitting on, reveling in the fact that no-one could see her unless she showed herself. She liked getting to decide which parts of her she did or did not show to people. Whether that was her skin or her hopes and dreams, she liked having the freedom to decide for herself. Most of all, she liked freedom. The Festival of Fools was in full swing by now and it wouldn't be long until it was time for her sister to appear on the stage and perform, perform in such a way that the stars would rain down from the skies to rate her performance, Esmeralda was capable of such miraculous things and they all knew it. Ethelinda found herself steadily growing more and more excited about seeing her sister perform in front of such a big crowd. The number of people that had decided to show up, those who weren’t gypsies, came in large numbers. She knew the pale faces were only passing through looking for trouble or a dame they could woo into their beds. If the men weren’t looking for trouble or dames they were looking for that honey gold liquid wheat that they poured here for a bargain price. Ethelinda had experienced enough to know that she was best off if she steered clear of those males. Girls like her didn’t get proposals, girls like her only got the broom to their behinds followed suit by the infuriated wives most men forgot to mention they had. Esmeralda was simply too exquisite, though men fell at her feet all the time, she could afford herself the luxury of deigning them all unworthy and still saving face and posture. Honestly it would come as no surprise to her if Esmeralda had a few gentleman suitors ask for her hand in marriage, despite her being a gypsy, before the evening was over. Ethelinda looked around and focused on a guy dressed up as a hunchback, the work on this guy was exquisite. She wondered how many coppers it had cost him to have someone put it together. His face was an entirely different story, she supposed she should find it hideous, or ugly in the least, but all Ethelinda could see was the mystery behind it. The freedom of getting to choose which parts of yourself you do and do not reveal. Esmeralda appeared on stage as the music started and Ethelinda watched with an unknown pain in her heart as the stranger became mesmerized with Esmeralda. Ethelinda felt a small surge of jealousy toward her older sister. Everyone always liked her best, she had the lushest curves, the wildest stories and the biggest heart. Everyone shoved Ethelinda to the side because Esmeralda was already there filling the spotlights. It was impossible to achieve anything with her around, though at times such as these, Ethelinda didn’t mind one bit. Her sister was born to be seen, she deserved all of this and so much more. 

If Ethelinda could give her the world, she would do so. Sadly, she couldn’t. The arch deacon, Claude Frollo, sat on the start of the raised platform and his leering, cold and most importantly, empty and unfeeling beady eyes never left Esmeralda’s figure as she swayed to the music and became enthralled by it. The arch deacon shifted in his seat, looking for eye contact in the crowd, any onlooker who might agree that this performance was far too scandalous. He found no support as all the eyes were turned to the stage and all minds were completely mesmerized by her older sister. The kernel of pride that had been growing in her stomach, blossomed and swelled into her chest. Ethelinda raised herself up a little more to get an even better look at her sister. The arch deacon grasps Ethelinda’s attention when he balls his hands into fists. 

One of the guards seemed to take a particular interest in Esmeralda, pigs the lot of them. He spoke with the arch deacon and Ethelinda felt herself slowly growing more uneasy. When the dance ended it was time to crown the King of Fools and she had to admit that the one person she had in mind was perfect for the title, felt he the need to claim it and therefore his own name, the opportunity was there, clear as a cloudless day, waiting for his seizing hands.   
Esmeralda had apparently noticed the intriguing stranger as well and started to drag him up the stage. Suddenly a feeling of dread, which grew bigger when she glanced at the ever changing features of the arch deacon, and something inside was urging her to get out, and get out fast. To leave and not look back. However, her body would not listen to her mind’s command and she sat there, frozen and mortified as she took in the scene about to unfold, in front of her.   
Esmeralda made the crowd jeer with joy and tried to pull the man’s mask from his face, when this was not possible the boisterous crowd became a sea of silent, hushed and horrified, angry whispers that spread like wildfire and turned the silence back into an unforgiving crowd of never ceasing, ever growing sound that was started to become deafening and numbingly loud. 

The arch deacon stood up as they tied the stranger to the wheel and kneeled in front of him. ‘This is how one chooses to thank me for my virtuous patience with thee, this is one’s expression of gratitude towards a figure of authority and grace. Lo! And behold, look upon this ungrateful ruffian, drink your fill, let thine eyes wander upon this rugged figure and let thine hearts fill with the hatred that this… this creature deserves. I have never been treated thus poorly!’   
One seller selling his wares threw a piece of ripe fruit and it splattered against the skin of the hunchback, the hunchback pleaded for someone to get him off this wheel, but no-one moved to help him. 

Even though her body had not moved before, it was moving now, dropping down and pushing through the many bodies that swarmed closer to the stage, all in order to get a better aim at the human target, spinning round and round like a pig on a stick, waiting to get roasted. The inhumanity of it all got to Ethelinda as fear gripped her throat and pulled her to a rest, shackled her in invisible chains to the cobbled streets as she looked on and saw how her sister, her most beloved sister climbed back up on that stage and cut the man free. She helped him up and the arch deacon looked at her with hellfire burning in his eyes. ‘I see here no creature, no beast but the one my eyes fall upon now! Let it be known throughout all the land, over all the seven seas, that you, arch deacon, are an inhuman beast who knows not of kindness and grace.’ The arch deacon grabbed for her but her sister disappeared into a cloud of smoke and then appeared between the roaring festival goers as she outsmarted two guards with their own weapons and was slung a numerous amount of insults at her person. 

Fear gripped Ethelinda as Esmeralda made her way through the crowd, jesting around and only nearly avoiding getting captured by the guards. One of the guards, the one in the golden attire, which probably meant that he bore a higher title than those around him was anointed to capture Esmeralda, by the arch deacon himself.   
The hunchback disappeared with the arch deacon between the crowd, that split like a sea in those Christian stories she heard when passing through town and she watched as the two of them made their way back to the Notre Dame. 

A realization dawned on her. This hunchback, was he the famed hunchback who had rung those bells for years now, days on end, always managing to capture her attention, no matter what she was doing at the time. It appeared that it was and the mystifying man only became more of a mystery to her.  
The crowd slowly disappeared off into the local public houses that were situated on nearly every corner in this town and the hunt for Esmeralda continued, Ethelinda following in their stride, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows of the alleys and streets as the churning in her stomach became worse.

**Author's Note:**

> I started working on this well before the Notre Dame burned partially down to the ground and I just had to look up an image description of the building and saw some photos of the grotesuqe fire and bawled my eyes out again. I remember reading about online only thirty minutes after the fires had started, I was so devastated. How silly that buildings can hold such personal value to an individual.


End file.
